Panel 1
The attic
- — Mum, who is this?
- — I don’t know. Ask your grandmother.
Source: The story is invented. This is how almost every family search begins.
Проверить себя / English
Threads: the story of one family
Fifteen panels, five chapters: finding a photograph, the town on the far bank, reading a stone, the ashugh's song, and the words that are passed on.
Honestly about this translation: it is a working English version made by the museum's digital assistant. The Russian original is the source of truth; where the two differ, the Russian text stands. The story and its dialogue are fictional; facts, places and numbers come from the museum's collection, and each panel names its source. Hebrew and Azerbaijani versions are not made here — they require a native speaker's check. Русская версия →
1. The photograph
Panel 2
A note on the back
- Quba.
- Where is Quba?
Source: Quba and Qırmızı Qəsəbə (Red Settlement) are towns of the community in Azerbaijan.
Panel 3
The first search
- Eight letters of a surname — and a hundred years behind them.
Source: The museum's surname index: 223 surnames, 389 fathers' names.
2. The town on the far bank
Panel 4
The far bank
- — A town across the river from Quba.
- — Why across?
Source: Qırmızı Qəsəbə was founded in 1742 on the other bank of the Kudialchay.
Panel 5
By the khan's leave
- The land was granted by the Khan of Quba.
Source: So the beginning is told; the museum records it as tradition and documents.
Panel 6
A town, not a village
- Here they did not live as a village. Here they built a town:
- dyers, weavers, silversmiths, trade across the Caucasus.
Source: The only place where Mountain Jews lived as a town — and still do.
3. The stone speaks
Panel 7
Inscriptions
- — I can’t read this.
Source: The museum's catalogue: 1,102 inscriptions read, 1,194 monuments.
Panel 8
The word בֶּן
- בֶּן — “ben” — son.
- So next comes the father's name.
Source: The word בֶּן appears in 59% of the Qırmızı Qəsəbə inscriptions.
Panel 9
Two names
- — The name was written in different ways: how they called him at home and how on the stone.
- — Why?
- — So both are remembered.
Source: Hebrew spellings and everyday names often differ: 351 Hebrew name forms.
4. The ashugh and the song
Panel 10
The song
- The song was heard in a house where no one spoke Juhuri any more.
Source: The museum holds genuine photographs of the poet Sergei Izgiyayev and of the 1980s theatre company.
Panel 11
Ashugh
- The ashugh did not sing for the stage.
- He sang so that people would remember.
Source: The art of the ashugh and the liturgical chant: the section “Music and songs”.
Panel 12
The voice
- — Say it again: what was your mother's name?
Source: Recordings are accepted through the page “Send material”.
5. Word by word
Panel 13
Words
- Five words — and that is already a conversation.
Source: The museum's dictionary: 2,277 words. First-lesson cards: 128 words.
Panel 14
A proverb
- Ambar khundəɡor ambar midanü.
- Who reads much knows much.
Source: From the collection “The wisdom of the people” (M. N. Naftaliev, STMEGI, 2025).
Panel 15
Roots
- — Now you know where you come from.
- When a person has roots, he stands firmly on his feet.
Source: Words of the museum's founder, Davidov Don Serezhovich.
Find your surname: index of surnames. Read the Russian original: the comic. Работает и обратно: 15 полос в русской версии.